Venezuelan security forces, backed by pro-government militias, have quashed peaceful protests with excessive use of force, killings and torture, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday. Michelle Bachelet, addressing the Human Rights Council, cited allegations that the National Police’s Special Actions Force (FAES) had executed 37 people in January in Caracas in illegal house raids in poor areas supporting the opposition. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his admi... Tags: Science, United Nations, Venezuela, Donald Trump, Caracas, Human Rights Council, National Police, Michelle Bachelet

Venezuelan doctors have come under pressure from President Nicolas Maduro's government for trying to alert a visiting UN mission about the severe lack of hospital medicine and equipment, NGOs say. Venezuelan authorities say that US sanctions freezing $30 billion in assets have blocked imports of basic items including medicine. "They forcibly booted out the head of a medical school in Maracay (west of Caracas) and since then we haven't heard from her," said Jaime Lorenzo, executive director of ... Tags: News, US, Un, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Caracas, Maracay, Jaime Lorenzo

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Francibel Contreras brings her three malnourished children to a soup kitchen in the dangerous hillside Caracas slum of Petare where they scoop in spoonfuls of rice and scrambled eggs in what could be their only meal of the day. Part of the tragedy of daily life in socialist Venezuela can be […] Tags: News, Nation, Venezuela, Caracas, Caracas Venezuela, Petare, Francibel Contreras

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign ministry says a German freelance journalist freed in Venezuela months after he was jailed as a suspected spy is on his way home. A Caracas court ordered the conditional release of Billy Six on Friday. Six was ordered to report to the court every 15 days and not to speak […] Tags: News, Germany, Berlin, Ap, Nation, Venezuela, Caracas, Billy Six

Guaido, who invoked the constitution in January to assume an interim presidency, saying Maduro's re-election was illegitimate, called on thousands of supporters to stay committed to what he dubbed "Operation Freedom." "Very soon, when we have visited and organized every inch ... we will go to Miraflores and reclaim what belongs to the Venezuelan people," Guaido said, referring to the palace, in a speech in the industrial city of Valencia 176 km (109 miles) west of Caracas, where he toured shops... Tags: Science, Venezuela, Valencia, Caracas, Maduro, Socialist Party, Miraflores, National Constituent Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, Guaido

What caused a devastating five-day blackout in Venezuela? Two engineers with expertise in geospatial technologies believe the answer lies in images from a NASA weather satellite showing thermal activity, which they superimposed onto Google Earth, the AP reports:
Within hours of the attack, the government of embattled President Nicolas Maduro began accusing the U.S. of a cyberattack. Maduro has stuck to that narrative, saying hackers in the U.S. first shut down the Guri Dam and then delivered sev... Tags: Tech, Ap, Nasa, Venezuela, Google Earth, Associated Press, Nicolás Maduro, Caracas, Maduro, José Aguilar

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A human rights attorney says a German freelance journalist jailed in Venezuela since November as a suspected spy has been freed. Carlos Correa of Public Space told The Associated Press on Friday that a court ordered the conditional release of journalist Billy Six. He had been charged with espionage — accusations […] Tags: News, Nation, Venezuela, Public Space, The Associated Press, Caracas, Venezuela AP, Carlos Correa

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Darkness has yet to lift for 72-year-old Elizabeth Guzman and thousands of her poor neighbors in a forgotten corner of Venezuela’s capital that was barely getting by even before the lights went out over a week ago. As the sun sets each day, Guzman lights a homemade oil lamp and holds […] Tags: News, Nation, Venezuela, Guzman, Caracas, Venezuela AP, Elizabeth Guzmán

The sick must provide their own medical supplies as havoc grips Maracaibo, but shelves in the looted shops are bare The air in the crowded emergency ward was already thick with the rusty smell of dried blood when the door burst open and two men barged in, screaming for help.Between them, they carried a third man: barefoot, bare-chested – and bleeding freely from a deep wound which had nearly severed his right arm. Continue reading... Tags: Americas, World news, Venezuela, Caracas, Maracaibo

Plastic bottles and containers at the ready, Keisy Perez ignores the stench from the brown river as it slips slowly through the grimy San Agustin district of Venezuela's capital. The quest for drinkable water has rapidly become an obsession for millions like her in Caracas days after a crippling power blackout stalled the city's pumps. In this part of Caracas, the Guaire river is effectively an open sewer. Tags: Science, Venezuela, Caracas, San Agustin, Guaire, Keisy Perez

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The last remaining American diplomats in Venezuela left the country on Thursday, amid deteriorating ties between Washington and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Tags: News, Washington, US, Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela AP

As inflation soars, Venezuelans have been forced to find new ways to pay for essentials – when the power supply allows“Barter” reads a simple sign on Angelica Monasterios’s stall in Cupira, a town on the main road east from Caracas. Her niece painted the sign for her in early February, after spiralling inflation and vanishing reserves of hard cash made it hard to do business. Related: 'A city of shadows': fear as Venezuela's crippling blackout enters day four Continue reading... Tags: Business, Americas, Economics, World news, Inflation, Venezuela, Caracas, Angelica Monasterios, Cupira

Venezuela's public employees were called to return to work Thursday after the government ended a nearly week-long hiatus caused by an unprecedented nationwide blackout that deepened widespread anger against President Nicolas Maduro. Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in an address on state television Wednesday that Maduro decided the public sector would resume work on Thursday, although state schools would remain closed for an extra day. The span of decreed public holidays started la... Tags: News, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Caracas, Maduro, Jorge Rodriguez

Citing security concerns, the US is evacuating its embassy in Caracas, where President Maduro blames the US for a calamitous power outage. Venezuela's relations with Brazil are eroding quickly, too. Tags: US, Management, Brazil, Venezuela, Caracas, Maduro

Power had returned to many parts of Venezuela after a nationwide outage last week that Maduro's ruling Socialist Party blamed on an act of U.S. sabotage, though it had not fully reached the western state of Zulia, where temperatures are high. In addition, there's no potable water and no food." The country's top food company, Empresas Polar, said four facilities in Maracaibo, the biggest city after the capital Caracas, had been sacked this week, with looters making off with water, soft drinks a... Tags: Science, China, Venezuela, Caracas, Maduro, Socialist Party, Empresas Polar, Maracaibo, Zulia

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s largest private food supplier says massive looting and vandalism occurred at four facilities in the city of Maracaibo during nationwide power outages, complicating efforts to distribute food and drinks to people in the area. Empresas Polar said Tuesday that distribution center and a production plant for Pepsi-Cola Venezuela were hit […] Tags: Business, News, Nation, Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela AP, Empresas Polar, Pepsi Cola Venezuela, Maracaibo

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido vowed Tuesday to take Nicolas Maduro's place in the presidential palace "very soon," as thousands of people took to the streets of Caracas to protest. Many waved large banners calling on Maduro to go. "The situation is very difficult, we are hoping that this government will change. Tags: News, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Caracas, Maduro, Juan Guaido

Thursday’s blackout left most of Venezuela in the darkUS pulls staff as Maduro accuses Trump of ‘demonic’ plot Venezuelans head to collect water from a sewage canal at the river Guaire in Caracas. President Nicolás Maduro has alleged a US attack crippled the country’s electrical system. Photograph: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images Venezuela’s chief prosecutor has asked the country’s supreme court to open an investigation into opposition leader Juan Guaidó for alleged involvement in the “sabotage... Tags: News, Washington, White House, US, Syria, Cnn, Afghanistan, Britain, United States, Venezuela, Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro, Saab, Trump, Caracas, Maduro

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.S. said late Monday that it is pulling its last remaining diplomats from Venezuela, saying their continued presence at the country’s embassy in Caracas had become a “constraint” on U.S. policy as the Trump administration aggressively looks to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
The announcement came from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a tweet shortly before midnight comes as Venezuela struggles to restore electricity following four days of blackouts arou... Tags: News, Spain, United States, Moscow, Miami, Venezuela, Catholic, Madrid, Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro, US Embassy, Trump, Air Europa, State, China Russia, Caracas

The U.S. said late Monday that it is pulling its last remaining diplomats from Venezuela, saying their continued presence at the country's embassy in Caracas had become a "constraint" on U.S. policy as the Trump administration aggressively looks to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Tags: US, Venezuela, Trump, Caracas

Tejedor, 28, joined dozens of people who had flocked to the Guaire river, which snakes along the bottom of a sharp ravine alongside Caracas' main highway, to fill up a four-gallon (15 liter) plastic container. Unlike the fetid liquid flowing through the Guaire river, the water emerging from the pipe was at least clear. It's horrible, horrible," said Tejedor, preparing to carry the container on a small hand cart back to her home in the neighborhood of San Agustin. Tags: Science, Caracas, Tejedor, Guaire

The United States will withdraw all remaining diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Caracas as the crisis in Venezuela deepens, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Monday. The move worsens already tattered relations, with President Donald Trump having said he rules out no options including military intervention to oust President Nicolas Maduro as Washington monitors rapidly unfolding events in the oil-rich but crippled South American nation supported by Russia and China. The US has alrea... Tags: News, Washington, China, Russia, US, United States, Venezuela, State Department, Cuba, Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro, State, Caracas, Maduro, Pompeo, Mike Pompeo

The United States will withdraw all remaining diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Caracas as the crisis in Venezuela deepens, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Monday. The move worsens already tattered relations, with President Donald Trump having said he rules out no options including military intervention to oust President Nicolas Maduro as Washington monitors rapidly unfolding events in the oil-rich but crippled South American nation supported by Russia and China. The US has alr... Tags: News, Washington, China, Russia, US, United States, Venezuela, Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro, State, Caracas, Mike Pompeo

With the crisis in its sixth day, neighbors are sharing generators, contraband supplies and skills for survivalAt a street corner in eastern Caracas, Rosa Elena stepped from her car and started picking handfuls of leaves from a modest tree growing at the roadside.“This is neem,” she said. “It’s high in sugar and great in a tea.” Continue reading... Tags: Americas, World news, Venezuela, Caracas, Rosa Elena